A Day in the Life at R. L. Young

Kindergarten Registration -WELCOME!

Raymond L. Young welcomed many new faces on April 23 as parents and children flowed in throughout the day.


An additional opportunity will be available for our newest kindergarten students...a tour of the facilities, a short evaluation, a goody bag, fun sheets for summer practice, and an opportunity to visit our Book Fair.

We welcome you to the best place to learn and grow!

Combined Efforts during State Testing

Everyone at Raymond L. Young combined efforts to make state testing a successful event. K-2nd grade classes creatively"adopted" the upper grade classrooms to motivate and support their testing efforts. Not only were these acts of kindness, it allowed our youngest students to recognize the seriousness and importance of testing.

All testing students were given the opportunity to earn an extra 10 minutes of free time each day for a total of 50 minutes if they were present and did their best. Teachers were surprised to discover that they too could be selected for a prize of their own.

After the last day of testing, students received their extra free time and individual teachers found additional ways to celebrate a job well done. Bubble-blowing fourth graders are pictured above. When Dibels testing rolled around, the upper grades helped to motivate the lower grades in various ways. What a great idea!

Mrs. Nunn, Young's reading coach and Mrs. Belcher, our special education teacher, were instrumental in providing students an opportunity to make up any tests they missed.

AYP...Here We Come!

Concern for Children Visits Young

Students in grades K-3 were treated to a puppet show, singing, and coloring books compliments of Concern for Children out of Anniston. The focus of the visit and presentation by Ms. April Colley was helping each child have a healthy self esteem, being safe, and knowing how to handle difficult situations.
This is just one example of how we strive to provide additional opportunities to help students stay safe.

Generosity At Young

Students, faculty, and staff at Raymond L. Young are reaching deep into their pockets to give to two worthy causes...Saint Jude Hospital and Relay for Life (American Cancer Society).

To support St. Jude Hospital, students are completing a Mathathon workbook and collecting funds from sponsors. The American Cancer Society effort involves collecting coins for a cure.
To support our efforts contact any faculty member or student at the school.

2nd Graders in Flight...In Honor of Ruth Law

The story is "Ruth Law Thrills A Nation." In case you are wondering who Ruth Law is, she was the first American to fly 590 miles in one day. While she did not reach her goal of flying from Chicago to NYC in one day, she did set a record for the longest flight recorded. She set this record in 1916. My class was thrilled today when we took our art project, hand-made paper airplanes, outside for an airplane race. I don't know who had more fun, the students or me!



After racing, we gathered on the front lawn for a group picture. I have to tell you: the girls actually did better at making and flying the planes than the boys! Give me five, girls!!!!!





These students in my class (Mrs. Armstrong's second graders) made the honor roll for the 5th six weeks grading period. They all earned a 90/A or higher in conduct and 13/18 met their AR goal! Take a bow, second graders! You deserve to be honored!

Gifted "Bridge Builders"

It has been said often that children learn best with hands on activities and Ms. Kearley's gifted class activity is a good example. Kelsi Hardy, a student in the gifted class wrote about the unit and her experience with bridge building. FASCINATING!

Our last unit in gifted was about Bridges. We learned about the different types of bridges by discussing, doing experiments and the big project.
The first thing we did was discuss the different types of bridges. We also did a poster board. We looked up different types of bridges on the internet and glued them on the poster board.
The next thing we did was an experiment. Ms. Kearly gave us index cards and a plastic bag of pennies. She had us lay the index card on 2 books, like a bridge and estimate how many pennies the “bridge” would hold. Then we tested our estiment. After that, we folded the index cards different ways to see which way would hold more pennies.
Last, but definitely not least, we did the big project. She had us choose a type of bridge like a truss bridge, arch bridge, or a cantilever. She gave us a big piece of paper and a ruler for us to draw a blueprint. When we were finished with that, we got to make it. She gave us 3 materials: straws, paper clips and string. When we were finally finished with that, we got to destroy our bridges with a plastic cup and pennies. We placed our bridge across 2 chairs and hung a plastic cup on the bottom of it with paper clips. When all the bridges were destroyed, we put them together again and someone took them home.
To conclude, the big project taught us to discuss, experiment, and draw a conclusion on a theory. Through this we also learned about the different types of bridges and the strengths and weaknesses of each type.

Kelsi Hardy
R.L. Young 6th grade

Thanks, Kelsi for this inside view of a very fun group of lessons.

Writing Explosion!

WATCH OUT...Mrs. Beard, our computer assistant has created a WRITING EXPLOSION! As you wander down to the computer lab, it is impossible to miss the wonderfully written essays on various topics by our older students. An additional display features riddles by younger writers. These riddles have stumped even the adults throughout the school.

Mrs. Beard, who oversees the Successmaker Program, was recently awarded the B.O.B. Award (Bend Over Backward) for going beyond her normal duties to motivate and inspire R. L. Young writers.

Here is a sample riddle written by Mrs. Nabor' Kindergarteners:

DID YOU GUESS MRS. HODNETT? That's right!

See below the 1st place essay written by Sam Thomas :

Going Going Gone

Baseball, a sport I love. If you don't love baseball as much as I do, you need to have second thoughts. Baseball is the most exciting sport of all. There are all sorts of noises, smells and sights.

It all starts off with the low mumble of the umpire saying, 'Strike the ball"! You can also hear the hollering of coaches fussing about the calls made by the umpire, which can get pretty loud sometimes. There's the crackling of the bat when the ball hits the bat head on. That's what you can hear at a ball game.

Here's my personal favorite thing at a baseball game, the smell! It smells like nothing you've smelled before. The fresh scent of freshly popped popcorn, with melted yummy butter. You also can't miss the smell of hotdogs and hamburgers fresh off the grill. That's why it's my favorite thing.

Last but not least the sights. The best is if a player hits a homerun they wave their hands with a jubilant smile on their face. I wish I could do that. Best of all is when players shake hands at the end of the game which shows good sportsmanship.

So if you haven't been to a game go! You will enjoy it! Trust me I know. So get going, going gone!

A New Club at YOUNG!

BREAKFAST AND A BOOK Club members gather daily at Raymond L. Young. These members include students who arrive before school begins. Often in this busy world, children have very little time to relax and enjoy a magazine, book, or even a newspaper. But with the B & B Club, our students have an opportunity to enjoy free reading time and munch on breakfast treats served by our cafeteria.

Mark Twain once said, "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." It's great that R.L. Young is helping parents who must bring their children early and supplying our students with extra time to enjoy a good "read."

Kindergarten Registration

Kindergarten Wall Display
Talladega City School Kindergarten registration is April 23. Parents will need to bring four items:

1. Birth certificate
2. Social Security card
3. Proof of residence
4. Immunization record (Blue slip)

Registration will be held at each school. New Raymond L. Young Kindergarten students will receive a special invitation to return on April 24 for a school tour, kindergarten screening, special treat, and an opportunity to visit the Book Fair.

Attendance at kindergarten registration is important. Many decisions for the upcoming year are based on the enrollment figures that we have from this registration. If you have questions, call the school office, 315-5888.

We look forward to your visit!

Early Dismissal

Attention!
All Talladega City Schools will be dismissing at 1:30 pm. TODAY due to a threat of severe weather.

Bus student pickup will be as follows:

1:15 p.m. Elementary
1:45 pm. THS
2:00 pm. Zora Ellis

Thanks for checking the blog for this information!

Close for a Reason

The faculty and staff of R.L. Young Elementary would like to thank Bemiston Baptist Church for their yearly generous acts of kindness. These acts of kindness include monthly treats, “goodie bags,” and special lunches. Special thanks go to the pastor, Kory Burel. Brother Kory along with wife Julie and two year old son Jackson joined the Bemiston community in the fall of 2006.

Brother Kory’s first reaction to our school was that Bemiston Baptist Church and R.L. Young Elementary were in close proximity for a reason. He felt led to reach out to our school and adopt us.

The teachers and staff just want to say “Thanks” for making us feel so loved and special!


This post was created by Rhonda Nunn, Reading Coach.

Dr. Horton Shares HORTON HATCHES THE EGG

Everyone has a favorite Dr. Seuss book, even our superintendent, Dr.

Joanne Horton.

So when Raymond L. Young planned the kick off for "Read Across America," we asked one of the district's busiest people....Dr. Joanne Horton if she would share her Seuss favorite!

She met with kindergarten and first graders in the auditorium to share HORTON HATCHES THE EGG. As the superintendent read the book, students were able to follow along with a powerpoint featuring the pictures from the story.

Of course, this book does sport Dr. Horton's name, but the reason she selected it was because of the message of the story. As written by a first grader on a writing activity, Horton, the main character, never gives up in his mission to sit on the egg, even through the worst of times. He follows through with his mission. This is a fine book for children and adults to read and remember.

Thank you, Dr. Horton for taking the time to share this book and important lesson. May we all strive to be like Horton!

Music in Our Schools Month

In honor of Music in Our Schools month which occurs each March, Raymond L. Young's third and fourth graders completed an "at home" assignment. The task involved designing and creating their own instrument, researching information, and playing their creation for the class. Students were graded on creativity, originality, and following the directions of the assignment.

From the picture below, you can see the many talents of R. L. Young students!

The purpose of MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH is to raise awareness of the importance of music education for all children and to remind citizens that school is where all children should have access to music.
Students at Young are fortunate to have regular education teachers who make great efforts to incorporate music into their everyday lessons!

Bad News Bullies

Raymond L. Young's fourth through sixth graders recently attended a workshop presented by April Colley from Concern for Children in Anniston. Mrs. Deese, counselor for Young, discovered this resource for the students and arranged for the speaker to come.
Ms. Colley identified 3 characters in a bullying situation: the BULLY, the BULLIED, and the BY-STANDER. Each character plays a role and can determine the outcome of the situation.

After this informative workshop, Hillari Hallmark wrote this moving essay on bullies.
Bad News Bullies
At some point in our lives we have all probably been bullies or a bully's victim. So here are some things that we need to know about bullying.
Bullies push, shove, and hit other people. They can also call them names and they will tell others not to talk or play with you. They will take your things and maybe even your money. so we need to stop them and now is the time.

Bullies will do some of these things to try and discourage you and make you lose confidence. Sometimes they do it because they may be having trouble themselves. They may need to get it out so they are mean to others to make themselves feel better.

Bullies harm others and they also harm themselves. They are mean to others and on the inside the bullies are hurting, too. Like most of you who have a lot of friends, bullies don't have many friends because they are mean to everyone. The only people they like are other bullies. So you know what that means...they don't have a lot of fun, they don't get invited to parties, and they don't get to go to the movies or the mall. The only fun they have is terrorizing other people and most of us don't think that is very funny.

You can't always tell if the person is a bully because they may not act all big and bad, they may dress like any other student, but they don't act like them. When you get bullied, it may not be your fault. Sometimes you just get caught up in it. So just walk away, take up for yourself, or you can act like you don't care.

You need to feel strong and confident about yourself because God made us all different and unique. It is not your fault if you do get bullied. We are all special in our own way and don't let a bully tear down your confidence.

Sometimes you can't always solve a bully problem by yourself. You need someone that you know you can count on and talk to like your parents, your coach, your teacher, your principal, or your guidance counselor.
You need to help a bully if you can, even if they bullied you. You can tell them to cool down and take a deep breath when they feel the urge to bully someone. Tell them by taking a deep breath, counting to 10, and walking away that they may get the urge to be nice and get more friends.

So next time you bully someone, think again. If you are the person being bullied, remember God made us all different and that you can just walk away, take up for yourself, or you can act like you don't care.

I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT BULLY FREE YEAR!

Excellent advice from one of Young's finest! Thanks for sharing...